Our Methodology

Geographic scope

SuedeDoor is currently offered only to organizations with a bona fide business or institutional presence in the United States. For this purpose, “United States” means the 50 states and the District of Columbia.

SuedeDoor’s research is oriented toward the U.S. market. This geographic scope applies to the organizations eligible to use SuedeDoor and does not mean that software vendors or products must be headquartered or developed in the United States.

Products offered by vendors based inside or outside the United States may be researched and included where authoritative public sources establish that the product is available or relevant to users in the U.S. market and otherwise satisfies SuedeDoor’s methodology.

Where a vendor publishes different pricing, licensing terms, product availability, features, integrations, security information, or other product information by geography, SuedeDoor seeks to reflect information relevant to the U.S. market where that distinction can reasonably be established from authoritative public sources.

Product availability, pricing, terms, features, and other vendor information may vary by location. Users should confirm geographic availability and other location-specific requirements directly with the applicable vendor before making a purchasing or deployment decision.

1. The Catalog and the Registry serve different purposes

SuedeDoor maintains a research Registry behind the Catalog.

The Registry is the governance layer used to record products and potential products identified through SuedeDoor’s discovery processes. It may include:

• products awaiting research;
• products undergoing eligibility review;
• products determined not currently eligible;
• products requiring identity or lineage review;
• eligible Product Entities;
• classification information;
• research provenance;
• source and monitoring records; and
• historical records needed to maintain continuity over time.

A product’s presence in the Registry does not mean that it is included in the public Catalog, approved by SuedeDoor, recommended by SuedeDoor, or considered superior to another product.

The Catalog is SuedeDoor’s structured public-facing research coverage.

Catalog coverage occurs downstream of discovery and eligibility. A product must first establish an eligible Product Entity and sufficient authoritative information to support a useful, verifiable profile.

Eligibility does not itself guarantee immediate public Catalog publication.

SuedeDoor does not use a Digital Presence Score, popularity ranking, web-traffic ranking, backlink score, search-interest score, or other “Top N” formula to determine product quality or Catalog standing.

Catalog size may change as the market, available evidence, and SuedeDoor’s research coverage evolve.

2. How products are discovered

SuedeDoor uses multiple discovery routes so that the Registry is not dependent on a single source, vendor relationship, or popularity metric.

Our current discovery framework has three principal routes.

Independent Market Research

SuedeDoor conducts a structured market-discovery sweep on a quarterly basis.

The sweep uses a standardized set of 20 discovery queries designed to identify potentially relevant AI-enabled software across AEC and built-environment workflows.

The query set is deliberately standardized rather than rewritten ad hoc for individual products during a sweep. This helps make successive discovery cycles more consistent and auditable.

Search results are discovery inputs only. Search placement, frequency of appearance, popularity, advertising presence, or other search-engine signals do not establish eligibility and do not create preferential Catalog treatment.

SuedeDoor may use a Digital Presence Score as an internal discovery aid when selecting candidates for a periodic market-research snapshot. It does not determine eligibility, Catalog inclusion, classification, product quality, ranking, placement, or visibility.

Registered Industry Sources

SuedeDoor also maintains a set of relevant industry sources for periodic review.

These may include appropriate publicly available industry resources, event or program materials, directories, organizational resources, and other sources that may surface software relevant to the market SuedeDoor researches.

Each registered source is assigned an appropriate review cadence. Most are reviewed quarterly, while sources whose nature warrants a different schedule may be reviewed annually or following a relevant event.

Appearance in an industry source is a discovery signal only. It is not an endorsement and does not establish eligibility.

Vendor Submissions

Software vendors or their authorized representatives may submit a product for evaluation through SuedeDoor’s vendor-submission process.

Submission is an intake route only.

Submit a product for evaluation →

A vendor submission does not:

• establish eligibility;
• guarantee Catalog inclusion;
• guarantee classification;
• create priority;
• accelerate favorable treatment;
• produce a ranking or score; or
• constitute an endorsement by SuedeDoor.

The same applicable eligibility methodology is used regardless of whether SuedeDoor identified a product through independent market research, a registered industry source, or a vendor submission.

SuedeDoor does not accept payment from vendors in exchange for eligibility, inclusion, classification, priority, ranking, recommendation, or other preferential research treatment.

3. Discovery provenance does not affect eligibility

SuedeDoor records how a potential product was discovered so that its research history can be audited.

That provenance is administrative information only.

Whether a product originated through:

• independent market research;
• a registered industry source;
• a vendor submission; or
• another permitted research route

does not affect its eligibility standard, classification, Catalog priority, product quality assessment, ranking, or visibility.

If a newly discovered item matches an existing Registry entity, SuedeDoor records the additional discovery event against the existing entity rather than creating an artificial duplicate.

If no appropriate existing entity can be established, the item may enter the Registry as a pending research candidate.

Discovery itself does not constitute evidence that the product satisfies SuedeDoor’s eligibility standard.

4. Eligibility is evaluated separately from discovery

Products entering eligibility review are evaluated using authoritative public evidence rather than the discovery signal that originally identified them.

SuedeDoor’s current eligibility framework applies four principal gates:

Gate 1 — Offering

There must be a current, identifiable software offering that users can meaningfully adopt.

An announcement, concept, discontinued product, consultancy service, generalized technology description, or unsupported marketing reference does not by itself establish an eligible software offering.

Gate 2 — Entity

The item must constitute an identifiable Product Entity.

In general, an eligible Product Entity is software or a software suite that a customer can independently acquire, subscribe to, license, deploy, access, or otherwise adopt as an offering.

A named AI assistant, feature, module, algorithm, capability, technology label, or umbrella AI brand that exists only inside another software product is normally treated as a capability of the parent product rather than as a separate Product Entity.

A separately branded offering may qualify as its own Product Entity when authoritative evidence establishes that it is independently adoptable.

Product suites may qualify where they are presented and made available as distinct customer offerings.

Gate 3 — AI Materiality

The product must have materially relevant, documented user-facing AI functionality.

The mere presence of AI terminology in marketing materials is not sufficient.

AI used only internally by the vendor, AI appearing only in administrative or corporate material, generalized claims about AI strategy, or compatibility with an unrelated third-party AI product do not by themselves establish AI materiality.

SuedeDoor looks for authoritative product or technical documentation demonstrating how AI forms a meaningful part of the software offering available to users.

Gate 4 — AEC Relevance

There must be current authoritative evidence establishing a meaningful application to architecture, engineering, construction, or another relevant built-environment workflow.

Theoretical applicability is not enough.

AEC relevance should be supported by current product documentation, workflow descriptions, use cases, or other authoritative evidence connecting the offering to a defined built-environment activity.

A product does not qualify merely because it could conceivably be used by an AEC company.

5. Product identity and continuity

Software markets change frequently.

Products are renamed, acquired, merged, split, absorbed into larger platforms, converted into features, bundled into suites, or discontinued.

SuedeDoor therefore separates product identity from simple name matching.

When evaluating a Product Entity, we may consider:

• official product name;
• official product URL and domain;
• vendor or parent company;
• independent adoptability;
• current product positioning;
• acquisition history;
• rebranding;
• merger or product-line consolidation;
• predecessor and successor products;
• whether a named item is actually a feature or module of another product; and
• other evidence needed to distinguish one genuine Product Entity from another.

Ambiguous identity, parentage, lineage, or product status is not automatically resolved merely to move a product through the process.

Where necessary, the record remains pending until sufficient evidence is available.

This helps prevent duplicate entries and prevents individual AI features or marketing labels from being presented as if they were independent software products.

6. Classification

After eligibility and Product Entity review, SuedeDoor classifies products according to the AEC workflows and capabilities documented by authoritative sources.

Classification is intended to make research and comparison easier.

It is not a judgment about:

• product quality;
• market leadership;
• customer satisfaction;
• suitability for a particular company;
• commercial success; or
• whether one product is better than another.

A product may span multiple workflows or capabilities. Broad platforms and more specialized products are evaluated under the same underlying principles rather than assuming that breadth or specialization is inherently preferable.

Classifications may evolve as products and the market evolve.

When authoritative evidence shows that a product’s capabilities or positioning have materially changed, SuedeDoor may update its classification.

7. Public Catalog coverage

Passing eligibility means that SuedeDoor has established that the item satisfies the applicable eligibility standard. It does not mean that the product has been ranked, endorsed, certified, or automatically published in the Catalog.

Public Catalog coverage is a separate research step.

Before publishing a structured Catalog profile, SuedeDoor seeks sufficient authoritative information to support useful factual coverage of the product.

Depending on what a vendor publicly makes available, this may include information concerning:

• pricing or licensing structure;
• documented features and capabilities;
• integrations;
• supported workflows or formats;
• security and compliance representations;
• technical or product documentation; and
• other factual information used by SuedeDoor’s comparison features.

If reliable information needed for a useful profile is unavailable, ambiguous, or insufficient, SuedeDoor may defer public coverage rather than fill gaps with assumptions.

Catalog inclusion therefore does not mean “better,” and non-inclusion does not mean “worse.”

8. Facts, not opinions

SuedeDoor is designed to help users compare factual product information without adding a product-quality scoring layer.

We do not:

• publish product-quality rankings;
• publish user ratings;
• publish satisfaction scores;
• label products as “best,” “top,” “leading,” or equivalent quality judgments as part of our methodology;
• publish editorial strengths-and-weaknesses reviews;
• tell users which product they should buy;
• accept payment from vendors for favorable inclusion, classification, priority, or other preferential treatment; or
• allow commercial considerations to determine eligibility.

Purchase and deployment decisions depend on circumstances SuedeDoor cannot determine for a user, including project requirements, existing technology, contractual obligations, budget, security requirements, implementation constraints, and organizational workflow.

Our role is to organize relevant research.

The decision remains the user’s.

9. Where product information comes from

SuedeDoor may use multiple sources to discover products and locate possible information. Discovery does not establish a Catalog fact.

Persistent Catalog facts require qualifying vendor-controlled evidence. Search-result snippets, third-party summaries, change signals, and AI model knowledge do not by themselves establish persistent Catalog facts.

For Catalog facts describing the U.S. market, SuedeDoor prefers applicable U.S. or global official sources. A localized source for another market does not automatically establish a U.S.-market fact, and SuedeDoor does not infer that pricing or commercial terms are identical across markets. A non-English official source may still qualify when it clearly applies globally or to the U.S.

Detailed source-selection rules are set out in the Public Data Retrieval Standard.

Pricing information

SuedeDoor does not infer unpublished pricing, and it preserves qualifying language. Generic sales or contact calls-to-action do not by themselves establish quote-based pricing. We treat pricing as quote-based only when the vendor explicitly ties contact or quotation to obtaining a price. A demo, trial, or consultation call to action does not establish pricing, and missing pricing is never interpreted as free.

When usable public pricing cannot be verified, SuedeDoor may display “Pricing not currently verified” or another appropriately qualified state. The Public Data Retrieval Standard describes the detailed pricing safeguards.

Verification and evidence

Material facts may carry fact-level evidence identifying the supporting official source and verification time. Verification dates advance only when qualifying evidence exists, and SuedeDoor does not fabricate provenance for older or legacy information.

“Not currently verified,” unavailable, ambiguous, quote-based, promotional, and historical states are intentional evidence states rather than assumptions about a vendor or product.

Product context

A fact found on a vendor website is not automatically a fact about every product sold by that vendor. SuedeDoor checks product and page context before attaching product-specific facts. Facts about another product, a subordinate listing, template, gallery item, article, customer story, or similar object are not attached merely because they appear on the same vendor domain.

Unresolved product identity may remain unverified or be routed for human judgment. The Public Data Retrieval Standard provides further detail.

Access restrictions

SuedeDoor evaluates applicable published crawl rules, respects vendor-specific retrieval suppression, and does not switch providers to circumvent a denial. Temporary technical failures receive bounded deferred rechecks. Verification dates do not advance when qualifying retrieval does not occur.

Website terms are reviewed separately, without automated legal conclusions. Detailed access rules appear in the Public Data Retrieval Standard.

Data minimization

SuedeDoor retains compact factual evidence and governance metadata rather than wholesale copies of vendor webpages as normal Catalog evidence. The Public Data Retrieval Standard provides further detail.

10. Security and compliance information

Security information deserves particular care.

Where SuedeDoor displays information concerning matters such as:

• SOC 2;
• ISO certifications;
• privacy frameworks;
• encryption;
• data residency;
• authentication;
• access controls; or
• other security or compliance characteristics,

the information generally reflects what the vendor publicly represents in its own documentation.

Displaying such information does not mean that SuedeDoor has independently audited the vendor, certified its security posture, verified continuing compliance, or determined that the product satisfies a particular user’s legal, regulatory, cybersecurity, or procurement requirements.

Users should obtain and evaluate current security and compliance documentation directly from the vendor before relying on it.

11. Automated and manual research

SuedeDoor uses a combination of automated systems and human-administered research processes to locate, retrieve, organize, reconcile, and monitor publicly available information.

Deterministic processing is preferred where practical. AI-assisted extraction may be used when necessary, but AI output alone never establishes a persistent Catalog fact.

Product identity, source grounding, and factual-integrity checks are required before information is persisted as a verified fact. Human review is reserved for genuine ambiguity or conflict.

SuedeDoor does not intentionally bypass authentication requirements, paywalls, or technical access controls in order to obtain non-public information.

The specific tools and service providers used to perform research may change over time without changing the underlying methodology principles described on this page.

12. Ongoing factual monitoring

Vendor websites and software products change continually.

After a product receives Catalog coverage, SuedeDoor uses recurring factual monitoring to identify changes that may require a profile update or appear in its recurring Change Report.

SuedeDoor uses recurring scheduled monitoring and factual refreshes. Monitoring cadence may vary by process, source, and operational conditions.

Monitoring may identify changes involving areas such as:

• pricing;
• product features;
• integrations;
• security representations;
• documentation;
• product identity;
• branding;
• availability; and
• other material factual information.

A detected change is not treated as a product-quality judgment.

Clearly supported factual changes may be applied automatically regardless of magnitude; magnitude alone does not require human approval. Ambiguity, conflicting evidence, uncertain product identity, and other genuine judgment conditions are escalated. Repeated detection of the same unresolved issue does not create duplicate review work.

Automate facts. Escalate ambiguity. Preserve auditability.

Because vendor information can change between reviews, users should always confirm information material to a purchasing or deployment decision directly with the vendor.

13. Search, filters, and comparisons

SuedeDoor may allow users to search, filter, or compare products using documented product attributes and capabilities.

A search result means that SuedeDoor’s current data indicates that the product matches the factual criteria applied by the user or the relevant feature.

It does not mean that the product is recommended for the user.

Likewise, the position in which products appear within a search result, interface, comparison, list, or Workspace should not be interpreted as a product-quality ranking.

Ordering may reflect technical, alphabetical, relevance-based, recency-based, user-selected, or other non-evaluative interface criteria.

Vendors cannot purchase preferential positioning or a favorable research outcome.

14. Private research is separate from the public Catalog

SuedeDoor provides private research functionality that may include Dynamic Workspace, Live Look-up, saved research, and related features.

These functions are separate from the methodology governing public Catalog coverage.

A user searching for, looking up, saving, comparing, or discussing a product privately does not:

• make that product eligible for the public Catalog;
• improve its priority;
• increase its ranking;
• create a quality signal;
• create a popularity score; or
• otherwise influence its public treatment merely because the user researched it.

Private user activity is not converted into a public product ranking or rating.

Live Look-up may retrieve publicly available information about products that are not part of the public Catalog. That does not add those products to the Catalog or convert private research into public SuedeDoor coverage.

Private notes are user-created research materials and are not treated as public vendor reviews, product ratings, or Catalog-selection signals.

15. Vendor submissions remain neutral

Vendors are welcome to bring potentially eligible products to SuedeDoor’s attention.

They do not receive a different methodology.

A submitted product enters the same applicable eligibility framework as a product discovered independently.

Vendor submission does not provide:

• expedited eligibility;
• preferred classification;
• guaranteed publication;
• increased visibility;
• a higher ranking;
• a favorable assessment; or
• any other preferential treatment.

A submission may be consolidated with an existing Registry record where the product is already represented or under evaluation.

This prevents multiple submissions from creating artificial duplication or influence.

Vendor submissions use the same evidence rules as independently discovered products. Submitting a product does not guarantee inclusion, placement, priority, or favorable treatment.

16. No paid placement or preferential treatment

SuedeDoor does not accept payment from vendors in exchange for:

• eligibility;
• public Catalog inclusion;
• preferred Catalog treatment;
• favorable classification;
• priority research;
• rankings;
• ratings;
• recommendations; or
• preferential research outcomes.

If SuedeDoor introduces advertising, sponsorship, vendor-facing commercial services, or another materially different commercial arrangement in the future, any such arrangement will be identified appropriately and kept separate from the methodology used to establish eligibility and factual research treatment.

17. Factual corrections by authorized vendor representatives

Accuracy matters, and public information changes.

If an authorized representative of a vendor believes factual information displayed by SuedeDoor about that vendor or its product is incorrect, the representative may contact: support@suededoor.com

A correction request should identify:

• the product;
• the information believed to be inaccurate;
• the reason it is believed to be inaccurate; and
• where possible, a link to authoritative current vendor documentation supporting the correction.

SuedeDoor may require reasonable verification that the requester is authorized to act on behalf of the vendor.

SuedeDoor will re-review the relevant information against appropriate authoritative sources. A straightforward factual correction from an authorized vendor representative may be processed automatically when qualifying evidence clearly supports it.

Conflicting, ambiguous, promotional, or interpretive requests are not accepted merely because a vendor submitted them.

Submitting a correction request does not give a vendor control over SuedeDoor’s independent eligibility determinations, classification, methodology, or presentation of accurately sourced factual information.

General users do not submit or edit vendor product information through this correction process.

18. Vendor public-listing removal requests

An authorized vendor representative may request removal of a vendor-controlled product listing from SuedeDoor’s public Catalog by contacting: support@suededoor.com

SuedeDoor may require reasonable confirmation that the requester is authorized to act on behalf of the vendor.

Following verification, SuedeDoor will use commercially reasonable efforts to process an appropriate public-listing removal request.

Public Catalog removal is distinct from private user-directed research.

Removal from the public Catalog does not necessarily prevent an individual user from privately researching a publicly available product through functionality such as Live Look-up or from maintaining their own private research materials concerning that product.

SuedeDoor may also retain appropriate internal records where reasonably necessary for continuity, audit, legal, operational, security, or historical purposes.

19. Changes to the methodology

Software markets, research technologies, data availability, and SuedeDoor itself will continue to evolve.

We may therefore update this methodology when appropriate.

Changes may include adjustments to:

• discovery sources;
• discovery cadence;
• research workflows;
• eligibility implementation;
• Product Entity handling;
• classification;
• verification procedures;
• monitoring processes; or
• public Catalog operations.

Changes to research mechanics do not alter SuedeDoor’s core principles unless we expressly state otherwise.

Those principles are:

• Facts require qualifying evidence.
• Discovery does not determine product treatment.
• Product identity is established before classification.
• Clearly supported factual changes are automated.
• Genuine ambiguity is escalated.
• Auditability is preserved.
• Factual research is distinguished from opinion.
• Private user research does not determine public Catalog treatment.
• Vendors cannot purchase eligibility, inclusion, priority, ranking, recommendation, or other preferential treatment.
• SuedeDoor does not publish product-quality rankings or recommendations as part of this methodology.

The date at the top of this page identifies the current published version.

How does SuedeDoor decide what to research?

Products may be identified through quarterly independent market research, periodic review of registered industry sources, vendor submissions, and other permitted research routes.

Discovery identifies what should be researched next. It does not determine the outcome of that research.

Is SuedeDoor available outside the United States?

SuedeDoor is currently offered only to organizations with a bona fide business or institutional presence in the United States, meaning the 50 states and the District of Columbia.

This restriction concerns eligibility to use SuedeDoor; it does not limit the Catalog to U.S.-based software vendors. Products from vendors based elsewhere may be researched where they are available or relevant to the U.S. market and satisfy SuedeDoor’s methodology.

Do products with more web traffic have an advantage?

No.

SuedeDoor does not use web traffic, backlinks, Google search interest, social-media audience size, or a composite popularity score to determine product quality, eligibility, ranking, or favorable Catalog treatment.

Does appearing frequently in search results help a product get into the Catalog?

No.

Search-engine position and frequency may help SuedeDoor discover that a product exists, but discovery evidence does not establish eligibility or create preferential treatment.

What are the four eligibility gates?

A potential product is evaluated for:

1. Offering — Is there a current, identifiable software offering?
2. Entity — Is it an independently adoptable Product Entity rather than merely a feature, assistant, module, or umbrella label?
3. AI Materiality — Does authoritative evidence establish materially relevant user-facing AI functionality?
4. AEC Relevance — Does authoritative evidence establish a meaningful connection to an AEC or built-environment workflow?

A failure to establish one of the required elements may result in the product being recorded as not currently eligible or remaining pending until sufficient evidence becomes available.

Why distinguish a Product Entity from an AI feature?

Many established software platforms now contain individually branded AI assistants, copilots, modules, and capabilities.

Counting every branded AI feature as a separate software product would artificially inflate the market and make comparisons misleading.

SuedeDoor therefore asks whether a customer can independently adopt the offering.

If the AI capability exists only inside a parent platform, it is normally treated as a capability of that parent product.

Does eligibility guarantee Catalog inclusion?

No.

Eligibility establishes that the item satisfies SuedeDoor’s applicable eligibility standard.

Public Catalog coverage is a separate step and requires sufficient authoritative information to support a useful, defensible research profile.

Neither eligibility nor Catalog inclusion represents a recommendation or quality judgment.

Can a vendor pay to be included?

No.

SuedeDoor does not accept payment from vendors for eligibility, inclusion, favorable classification, ranking, priority, recommendation, or other preferential research treatment.

Does submitting a product improve its chances?

No.

Vendor submission is one of several discovery routes.

The origin of a product record is retained for provenance and audit purposes but does not change the applicable eligibility methodology or create an advantage.

How does SuedeDoor handle umbrella platforms and specialist tools?

Breadth is not treated as inherently better than specialization, and specialization is not treated as inherently better than breadth.

The first question is whether the offering qualifies as a Product Entity.

Once established, SuedeDoor documents and classifies the workflows and capabilities supported by authoritative evidence.

Where does SuedeDoor get its facts?

Persistent Catalog facts require qualifying vendor-controlled evidence. Public availability alone does not make information verified.

Other sources may help SuedeDoor discover products or locate possible information, but search snippets, third-party summaries, change signals, and AI model knowledge do not by themselves establish persistent Catalog facts. See the Public Data Retrieval Standard for details.

Does SuedeDoor independently certify security claims?

No.

Security and compliance information generally reflects publicly documented vendor representations.

Users should independently obtain and evaluate current security, contractual, compliance, and technical information from the vendor before making decisions.

How often is Catalog information checked?

SuedeDoor uses recurring scheduled monitoring and factual refreshes. Monitoring cadence may vary by process, source, and operational conditions.

Verification dates advance only when qualifying evidence exists. See the Public Data Retrieval Standard for detailed monitoring and evidence rules.

Because product information can change at any time, material facts should always be verified directly with the vendor before purchase or deployment.

Does Search by Feature rank products?

No.

Search by Feature identifies products whose documented capabilities correspond with the selected criteria.

The presence or order of a product in the results should not be interpreted as a quality ranking or recommendation.

Do Live Look-up or Dynamic Workspace searches affect the Catalog?

No.

Private user-directed research is kept separate from public Catalog governance.

Looking up, saving, or comparing a product privately does not create a popularity signal, change eligibility, increase priority, or determine public Catalog inclusion.

How can a vendor request a factual correction?

An authorized vendor representative may contact support@suededoor.com with the product name, the factual information believed to be incorrect, the reason for the correction request, and, where possible, current authoritative vendor documentation supporting the requested correction.

SuedeDoor may verify that the requester is authorized to act on behalf of the vendor before processing the request.

Can a vendor request removal?

An authorized vendor representative may request removal of a vendor-controlled public Catalog listing by contacting support@suededoor.com.

Public Catalog removal does not give a vendor control over an individual subscriber’s private research concerning publicly available information.